Chapter Six

Leah, Pete and Shannon sat down to their meal, purposely keeping the conversation light as they ate. When they were done, Leah insisted on clearing the table and cleaning the kitchen up while the other two settled in the living room. Pete leaned back in the recliner while Shannon got comfortable on the couch.

I’m beat, I’m going to bed, she wrote to Shannon and vocalized to Pete before she headed upstairs to the second room on the right, where her suitcase and a very comfortable-looking bed waited.

Suddenly exhausted, Leah changed into pajamas then crawled under the covers, and was sound asleep in less than five minutes.

Almost immediately, her brain began to play some very interesting scenes – her and Larry, laughing over dinner together. Her and Larry, walking hand-in-hand. Her and Larry, tangled in an embrace in candlelight as a light rain spattered against the bedroom window.

***

When Larry returned to his office, he found his lead IT man, Bruce, waiting for him.

“Hey,” Bruce said without preamble. “You remember when you had me spike those files, so we’d know if anyone accessed them who shouldn’t be?”

“Yeah,” Larry answered, his belly growing heavy with dread. “And?”

“Lit up like a Christmas tree,” Bruce revealed, and showed him the printout. “Every single one of your files on Creach & Langford has been accessed in the last twelve hours.”

Larry scanned the report.

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Bruce sighed. “I knew you’d want to know.”

“Same user ID?”

Bruce pointed it out, and Larry’s jaw dropped.

“Him? Really?”

“Really. I know. I was surprised, too.”

Larry stood and put back on the suit jacket he’d just taken off.

“Do me a favor,” he said, and wrote Zavier’s name down. “Check this guy out, let me know if he’s booked any flights tonight. And let the big boss know you found the leak. I need to get moving.”

“You got it,” Bruce answered. “Be careful, man.”

***

The first place Larry stopped was his apartment to change into more casual gear and grab his own, very meticulously stocked ‘ready bag’. His combat kit – a sturdy duffel bag – contained, among other things, two walkie-talkies and a disassembled M-16 rifle with a night vision scope. He moved to his dresser and tossed a burner phone into the bag, as well as two changes of clothes.

Larry locked up his apartment, got in his car, and purposely drove in a random pattern to shake any tail he might have grown. Then he pointed his car southwest and drove to Bolingbrook, where he kept his four-wheel drive truck in storage.

He pulled the truck out of and the car into his oversized unit, moved his bag to the truck, then rolled down and locked the unit’s garage-style door. His work phone pinged, and he read the latest update from Bruce just before he pulled out of the storage lot.

Charles Zavier booked a seat on the nine-fifteen flight. Flight was delayed, left at nine-thirty-two. Two connections. He’ll be in Dallas around one-forty a.m.

Larry checked his watch.

Nine-fifty-eight.

“I hope you got a nap in, buddy,” he muttered as he pulled up a new text window to Pete on his burner phone. “Because it’s about to be a very long night.”

He sent Pete the prearranged signal that trouble was brewing. Then he shifted his truck into drive and headed toward the meeting place.

About seven hours, he thought. And it will take Pete twice that to get there, at least. But it’s the safest place I know.

***

Leah was in the midst of possibly the best sleep – and possibly the hottest dream sequence - of her life when she felt someone shaking her.

Panicked, she came awake with hands bunched into fists, swinging wildly.

“Leah, it’s me,” Shannon soothed, and Leah dropped her arms and blinked rapidly.

“What the hell?” Leah managed.

When Shannon filled her in, Leah was instantly awake, tearing off pajamas to put on yoga pants and a t-shirt, and pulling on socks and shoes. A quick glance around the room confirmed she had all her things – she’d been so tired when she’d come upstairs that she hadn’t even bothered to unpack.

Within three minutes of Shannon waking her up, she was standing at the top of the stairs, suitcase at the ready.

***

By the time the women came downstairs, Pete had already used his burner phone to reach back out to Larry and get more information.

“Here’s what is going on,” he told Leah, handing her the notebook and pen so she could write it out for Shannon.

“Larry sent me a code that means we’ve been compromised, and we’re no longer safe here. Someone in his office told his main suspect in the car bombing where the two of you are. That guy is on a plane heading here as we speak. We need to get moving; we have a sixteen-hour trip ahead of us.”

Leah scribbled furiously, then showed Shannon, and watched her best friend go ghostly white.

They piled into the truck, Pete and Shannon up front, and Leah in the back seat. Pete reached back, handing Leah the burner phone.

“Let me know if Larry sends any more messages, all right?”

“You got it.”

They pulled back out onto the farm-to-market road, heading north to start their journey away from what had, up until that point, been a safe and secure location eight miles north of Decatur, Texas.

***

By two-thirty in the morning they’d crossed over into Arkansas.

Both Shannon and Leah were sleeping soundly as Pete continued the drive toward Little Rock, where he and Shannon had agreed to switch places.

It was just about seven a.m. when he pulled off the highway into a rest stop, and gently woke both of them up.

“Time to switch out,” he said, and Leah handed him the phone as the ladies went to the bathroom. 

***

By seven a.m. Larry was roughly ten miles from his destination. Suddenly his work phone pinged repeatedly, signaling message after message coming in.

He pulled over to review them. They were all from Bruce, and they were alarming to say the least.

All hell had broken loose overnight at the FBI’s downtown Chicago branch. C.W. Picking, the third-in-command, had been taken into custody, and during interrogation admitted to passing information to a lackey connected directly to Creach & Langford.

During questioning, he also began to talk extensively about just how many people were in on the investment firm’s schemes, naming participants as far away as Houston – and Fort Worth.

And there was other disturbing news.

Zavier’s plane landed about fifteen minutes behind schedule, but we missed him at the airport. He could be anywhere by now.

Bruce’s last text was One name Picking mentioned was a guy with the U.S. Marshals, Larry. Some new kid named Duffy.

“Holy crap,” Larry muttered under his breath, and pulled out his burner phone.

Duffy’s on the take, he texted to Pete’s secure means of contact, then kept moving.

***

Pete handed Leah the phone after he’d confirmed Larry’s messages and shared the latest news with Leah and Shannon.

“Here. Fill Larry in on where we are,” he said, before stretching across the back seat to try to sleep.

Hmm… This could be fun, Leah thought, and smiled as she typed.

So, hi. It’s Leah, she began, then continued I guess I am supposed to update you. So here goes. Shannon is driving, Pete’s trying to sleep, and I am staring out the window trying to be patient because I am beyond ready to be out of this damn truck. How’s life there?

***

Larry sighed with relief as he turned onto the barely two-car-wide gravel lane leading to the farm. As he slowed his speed to match the road conditions, he took careful note of his surroundings.

This will work well, he realized. Only one way in and out, unless you’re a mountain goat. Easier to see them coming, especially with the dust kicking up from the road.

The farm was over four hundred acres, nestled between two mountains, and backed up against the Daniel Boone National Forest, an area strictly off-limits to anyone not employed with the Forestry Services. The property had been in Larry’s mother’s family for over four generations, and he felt confident that Shannon and Leah would be safe here until he and Pete could thwart the danger threatening them.

Leah, his mind echoed. It’s crazy how much I am looking forward to seeing her again.

His burner phone buzzed just as he stopped in front of the cabin, and he grinned when he read the message.

***

In no time at all, the phone buzzed in Leah’s hand.

Well, I was ready to be off the road, too, if it helps. I just got here, actually. How far out are you?

Just east of Little Rock, she answered. But since I don’t know where we’re going…

Okay, Larry responded. You have another eight hours, give or take.

Seriously? You guys couldn’t pick something closer?

LOL, was Larry’s response, followed by, trust me the drive will be worth it. Not only is it beautiful here, but it’s safe. I guarantee it.

I just don’t understand why you took us all the way to Texas in the first place, she wrote.

Fair question, Leah. Pete told you guys about the leak, right?

Yeah.

That’s why I took you to Texas. The only one I knew I could 100% trust to keep you both safe is Pete, because I’ve known him for years.

“Makes sense,” she murmured, then typed back, Okay I get that. And I appreciate it.

She paused, contemplating her next move.

So, what are you wearing? she asked.